1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a movable cowl cover for a vehicle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There has been known a movable cowl cover for opening and closing a cowl box provided in front of the windshield. Wiper blades are housed in the cowl box when the wiper system is not in operation and the cowl cover is closed to improve the aerodynamic properties and the appearance of the vehicle, and when the wiper system is to be operated, the cowl cover is opened to permit the wiper blades to go outside the cowl box.
For example, in the movable cowl cover disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3694846, a slider of the cowl cover is mounted on the engine hood and the cowl cover is moved downward into the cowl box to open. In the cowl box disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 57(1982)-158556, a link mechanism for driving the cowl cover is mounted on the vehicle body and the cowl cover is moved downward and forward into the cowl box to open. These types of the movable cowl box are disadvantageous in that the cowl box must be large in volume in order to accommodate the cowl cover when it is opened. In the movable cowl cover disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 60(1985)-93555, a link mechanism for driving the cowl cover is mounted on the vehicle body and the cowl cover is moved upward to open. This type of the movable cowl cover is disadvantageous in that when the engine hood is opened with the cowl box being kept open, the engine hood interferes with the cowl cover, and accordingly, the engine hood must be opened after the wipers are stopped and the cowl cover is closed. Further, in the type in which the engine hood and the cowl cover are separately mounted on the vehicle body as those disclosed in the Japanese unexamined patent publications described above, it is difficult to position the rear edge of the engine hood and the front edge of the cowl cover with a high accuracy relative to each other, and at the same time, when a failure occurs in the driving mechanism of the cowl cover, the cowl cover must be removed for repair.